telogen

Telogen effluvium (TE) is the second most common form of hair loss most dermatologists see. When a woman is actively shedding hair during an effluvium (meaning ‘outflow’), it can be exasperating, depressing, and scary.

Sometimes a TE shed, as our forum members frequently call their thinning hair loss, can last for months or even years. Occasionally, it will appear as if the shedding occurs along with your menstrual cycle (cyclical shedding). Women with TE never completely lose all their scalp hair, but the hair can be noticeably thin in severe cases. Whatever form of hair loss your telogen effluvium takes, it is fully reversible.

Things that can help minimize a telogen effluvium shed (or hair thinning):

Sometimes skipping a shampoo for a day will make it seem as though more hair comes out the next time you wash. Many of our forum members say it helps to shampoo your hair every day.

Apply a light conditioning cream to your hair after towel drying to protect it from unnecessary breakage.

Things that can help boost volume and give the illusion of thick hair:

Visit a professional hair salon professional in your area and request a cut that will give your hair more bounce and move lightly (generally just below the chin and lightly touching the shoulders). Highlights and lowlights using foil can also give the illusion of thicker, fuller hair.

Loosely piling your hair up on top of your head and then piecing random pieces of hair with a good hair texturizer makes thinning hair look healthy and thick.

Supplements
Supplements can be a controversial topic in matters of hair loss. Many women who have recovered from telogen effluvium agree that you should steer clear of unnecessary supplements unless you have had blood tests to diagnose any vitamin deficiencies that can contribute to your hair loss. For example, if you are iron deficient or anemic, you should take a doctor recommended amount of iron supplements. Iron deficiency is known to cause or aggravate hair loss.

It’s important to remember that one supplement that worked for one woman may not work for you. Our bodies are unique and unnecessary supplements and medicines may do more harm than good.

Just wanted to summarize some research I’ve done over the past couple of years… for the benefit of my fellow TE shedders… Here goes…

Classic TE lasts roughly 3-6 months and has a very specific and temporary trigger… e.g. childbirth, major surgery, illness

CTE is basically TE lasting longer than 6 months and the insult or trigger is sort of a mystery…

Based upon my research… CTE in women can usually be attributed to a hormonal imbalance (e.g. too much estrogen or not enough) or other metabolic disturbance (e.g. thyroid) and also iron deficiency…

now… hormonal imbalances / metabolic disorders are pretty common with us chicks in this day and age… and there’s many reasons for this… too many to enumerate… but this link should help explain part of the problem:
http://womenlivingnaturally.com/articlepage.php?id=73

As far as iron deficiency… if you are menstruating and don’t eat alot of red meat or tons of green leafy veggies… chances are you are iron deficient on some level… as iron is stored in the blood… and blood loss = iron loss.